Surescripts Launches New Medication History Service to Support Population Health Management

Panel Management Service to Provide Medication Data Collected from 14 Nationwide Pharmacies and Two Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs)

ARLINGTON, Va. – September 7, 2016 – Surescripts, the nation’s leading health information network, is expanding to support population health management with its Medication History for Panel Management service for health systems, accountable care organizations (ACOs) and analytics vendors. The service provides a single connection to 14 nationwide pharmacies with 28,000 store locations and two pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs). Medication History for Panel Management gives healthcare providers access to more holistic, standardized and timely medication data to better manage the quality of care across large patient populations. 

“With the shift to value-based reimbursement models, every provider across the healthcare system needs better information to effectively manage the health of patient populations,” said Tom Skelton, Chief Executive Officer of Surescripts. “Our panel management service provides the market’s most complete view of patients’ medication information, allowing greater visibility into their overall health, and ultimately improving the quality of care for patients nationwide.”

Medication History for Panel Management leverages Surescripts’ unmatched connectivity and relationships with leading PBMs and pharmacies that provide the most robust data for population health management, including:  

• Albertson’s Companies (13 banners including Albertsons, ACME Markets, Jewel-Osco, Safeway and Vons)
• BestRx
• KeyCentrix
• Lagniappe
• PioneerRX
• QS/1 
• Rite Aid
• Rx30
• Thrifty White Pharmacy
• US Script
• Walgreens 

“As a participant in Surescripts’ Panel Management solution, we can enable provider access to high-quality and secure medication data to drive population health,” said Catherine Macpherson, Vice President of Adherence Innovation at Walgreens. “Being able to capture an accurate, complete and timely view of patients’ medication history is essential to driving positive health outcomes.”

Surescripts’ Medication History for Panel Management unlocks access to updated, multi-sourced medication information that is monitored and reviewed for quality—a game-changer for improving population health capabilities. Managing population health has become a priority for care providers who must focus on improving care quality while reducing costs, especially in light of value-based payment reform. Missing or low-quality data can negatively impact patient care and safety as well as quality ratings, resulting in potential reimbursement penalties for health systems and ACOs. 

“Outcomes-based reimbursement models are becoming more relevant across healthcare. The foundation of successful population health is to be empowered to manage chronic disease. As this continues, it is increasingly important to have access to high-quality and timely information on our patients,” said Michael Mirro, M.D., Senior Vice President, Chief Academic Research Officer at Parkview Health. “Surescripts Medication History for Panel Management allows us to more effectively manage our patients and transition toward a more proactive care model. This platform will allow our system to identify medication non-compliance early, and then intervene. Better data allows us to identify at-risk patients before a readmission, or even an initial admission can occur.” 

Surescripts Medication History for Panel Management helps providers adjust to new performance-based payment reforms that are replacing volume-based measures with incentives to promote safer and more effective patient outcomes. This service is designed to meet the demands of the Medicare Access & CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA) which will govern reimbursement for all office-based treatment of Medicare patients, including the Advancing Care Initiative that aims to incentivize improvements in information to guide better decision-making by providers.

Surescripts is a sponsor of the Population Health Forum, September 12-13, 2016 in Chicago, IL, where attendees can learn more about Medication History for Panel Management.